Rating: 
Summary: Soul Shakedown (This book should come with a warning label)
Review: God wrote this book through Merton's hands. I passionately kept this in the forefront of my mind while reading this book. You must read this book with your spirit; the more you try and get an experience out of this book the less you will recieve. After I read the first three chapters I was spiritually moved more so than any other book in my life, I had actually opened my heart and mind up to God (not just a bearded guy who shakes your hand when you die but the spirit of Christ) then I tried to read those first three chapters over again and reap the same rewards, and the harder I tried the less I recieved. After 3 months of reading everyday (with a dictionary of course) I finished the book in tears because I knew that God had mysteriously worked through Merton. You need nothing but an open mind and a dictionary to read this book. You do not need to have had a contemplative experience like some reviews have said.
Rating:
Summary: Merton at His Best
Review: I came to Thomas Merton's writings through reading Richard Foster's "Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home"(which I HIGHLY recommend). Since I am interested in contemplation and centering prayer, this is my choice of Merton's best book. Each "Mertonite" will have his or her own personal favorite, but this is mine. I especially liked the chapter titled: "Pray for Your Own Discovery", which I have higlighted extensively. Merton is very quotable; almost any sentence is worthy of admiration. I like what he says about our "mindfulness" of God: "What good does it do to say a few formal prayers to Him and then turn away and give all my mind and all my will to created things, desiring only ends that fall far short of Him?" If your new to Merton, this book is a wonderful place to begin your lifetime appreciation for the writngs of a true contemplative and a genuine human being. His books will be with you for the rest of your journey - to be read and reread as you continue along life's paths.
Rating:
Summary: Merton at His Best
Review: I came to Thomas Merton's writings through reading Richard Foster's "Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home"(which I HIGHLY recommend). Since I am interested in contemplation and centering prayer, this is my choice of Merton's best book. Each "Mertonite" will have his or her own personal favorite, but this is mine. I especially liked the chapter titled: "Pray for Your Own Discovery", which I have higlighted extensively. Merton is very quotable; almost any sentence is worthy of admiration. I like what he says about our "mindfulness" of God: "What good does it do to say a few formal prayers to Him and then turn away and give all my mind and all my will to created things, desiring only ends that fall far short of Him?" If your new to Merton, this book is a wonderful place to begin your lifetime appreciation for the writngs of a true contemplative and a genuine human being. His books will be with you for the rest of your journey - to be read and reread as you continue along life's paths.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, peaceful work by a spiritual giant!
Review: I couldn't put this book down and I am not even Catholic! It was so intensely spiritual and uplifting. A true testament to a life filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. Contemplation is a novelty in our materialistic world.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, peaceful work by a spiritual giant!
Review: I couldn't put this book down and I am not even Catholic! It was so intensely spiritual and uplifting. A true testament to a life filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. Contemplation is a novelty in our materialistic world.
Rating:
Summary: Christian Mysticism At It's Finest
Review: I have a weakness for books pertaining to monastic life, regardless of whether or not that's a Christian or Buddhist source. I have always been drawn to this lifestyle. This book is a revised version of his initial text titled, "Seeds of Contemplation," which might be one of his most read out of everything he has written. Some of the best literature on the nature of self is to be found in the opening chapters of this work. In here we find stunning passages on contemplative spirituality unlike any we have ever seen in the wide variety of Christian bodies of work. There are actually 5 versions of "Seeds", but "New Seeds of Contemplation" is the only one I have read. I am not Catholic, and I don't claim to understand everything Fr. Merton writes about in these texts. But there is certainly a common denominator here in connection to the contemplative practices of us Zen practitioners and Christian contemplatives like Merton. What I do know of this book is that it attempts to release the sleeping being within us all while waking us up from our spiritually inactive state, fostering an innate and almost numinous experience in all of our spiritual lives. In this work Merton expresses, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love." Wasn't that a wonderful passage? Come take a journey with Father Merton. If you were under the impression he is dead, just read this book and you will see he is as alive as ever! That's the great marvel of writings like these. The authors cannot die, for their work has the unique gift of touching our lives in ways no fictional works could ever even attempt to do. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: For those who are trying to hear God's voice in their lives
Review: I have this book, and this is one of the early books of my spiritual journey. I read Fr Merton's autobiography first (Seven Storey Mountain) while living in New York. I was drawn to Fr Merton because he was an intellectual who had no previous religious affinity, and in his own odyssey from unbelief to real communion with Jesus and His teachings, I saw something of my own self. My own journey did not mirror his, as I am a born Catholic. But his words were, in this book he wrote, a very direct catechism in how to "contemplate" God in my life. The idea that we are "words that are meant to respond to Him" is very important in deepening our faith. The intellectualization of Catholic faith, in Jesus Christ's life, can hinder our soul's nourishment. We turn to Thomas Merton whose life is a wonderful testament to the spiritual rewards of conversion. Merton is a giant intellect in the Catholic faith, and it bears telling that the first "pass" in reading any of his books can be a little daunting. It also should encourage all readers of his books to allow his words to sink into our inward thoughts and be able to grasp their meaning in ever growing increments of time between reading and meditating and prayer. Because without the prayer to seek to understand the "science of saints" we are not allowing ourselves to redeem our lives to please OUr Creator that we did our best to truly find Him in our selves.
Rating:
Summary: Reading this book is like breathing fresh air.
Review: In a non-stop cultural barrage of sensual experiences, Merton offers a quiet, place to regroup and reconnect with the author of truth. This is not the kind of book you rush through, developing an outline of the author's "key points." Rather, it is a book you reading slowly, reflectively, one chapter at a time; letting each thought sink into your spirit and renew your faith.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: Instead of inspiring me (as he has clearly done for many readers), Merton more often left me frowning and scratching my head. While this book contains some gems, I can understand how the reader from Florida saw it as "mumbo jumbo." For starters, Merton is not exactly a skilled writer (he admits as much in his introduction). His writing is often frustratingly vague and disconnected. Moreover, his calls for strict adherence to Catholic dogma and for perfect Christians to become communists were a bit off-putting to this layperson. Perhaps at a different point in my life, I might find it wonderfully inspiring. But as an early guide in my contemplative journey, Merton was more of a stumbling block than a stepping stone.
Rating:
Summary: Gems of Wisdom and Sobriety
Review: Merton, the master spiritual guide, sets before the reader 39 chapters on the spiritual life, each of which is earthy, practical, and void of sentimentalism. Any one section of any one chapter can give you something to chew on for days; it is not a quick read. One little line reads: I must look for my identity, somehow, not only in God but in other men. I will never be able to find myself if I isolate myself from the rest of mankind as if I were a different kind of being. Later: Hatred recoils from the sacrifice and the sorrow that are the price of this resetting of bones. It refuses the pain of reunion. There is in every weak, lost and isolated member of the human race an agony of hatred born of his own helplessness, his own isolation. Hatred is the sign and the expression of lonliness, of unworthiness, of insufficieny. And in so far as each one of us is lonely, is unworthy, each one hates himself. Please buy this book. It is truly written out of deep wisdom, love, and sobriety...
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